Deliciously organized by the Seven Deadly Sins, here is a scintillating history of forbidden foods through the agesβand how these mouth-watering taboos have defined cultures around the world.
From the lusciously tempting fruit in the Garden of Eden to the divine foie gras, Stewart Lee Allen engagingly illustrates that when a pleasure as primal as eating is criminalized, there is often an astonishing tale to tell. Among the foods thought to encourage Lust, the love apple (now known as the tomato) was thought to possess demonic spirits until the nineteenth century. The Gluttony βcourseβ invites the reader to an ancient Roman dinner party where nearly every dish servedβfrom poppy-crusted rodents to βTrojan Porkββwas considered a crime against the state. While the vice known as Sloth introduces the sad story of βThe Lazy Rootβ (the potato), whose popularity in Ireland led British moralists to claim that the Great Famine was Godβs way of punishing the Irish for eating a food that bred degeneracy and idleness.
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